Josh Lindsey, BC
by Nocturne in C Moll
Summary: An alternate ending to Episode 6, "B.C." Josh overhears an incriminating phone call between Beth and Mick.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: **This is a story I started back in fall 2008, and has not been beta'd, so it's a little rough--constructive criticism is welcome. This is the first of the 2.5 chapters I have written so far. And yes, I know I have other stories on the go, too, and not much time for writing at the moment, but MLA wanted 1000 stories by Christmas, and this was my contribution to the cause.

**Summary:** An alternate ending to episode 6, "B.C." Josh overhears an incriminating telephone conversation between Beth and Mick.  
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**Josh Lindsey, B.C.—Chapter 1**

Beth shut Josh's office door behind her and immediately pulled out her phone.

"Mick, it's Beth. Listen, the police are about to raid Lola's warehouse at Fifth and Alameda. If there's anything there you don't want them to find you should get there first." She listened for a moment, then ended the call. "Okay."

Suddenly the door opened behind her and she jumped. She whirled around to see Josh's tall frame filling the doorway, coat in hand.

"Beth."

Her heart started beating wildly. "Josh! Um…"

"Can you come back in here for a minute?"

"Sure…" She stepped slowly over the threshold and he closed the door behind her. She shifted nervously as he just stood there, looking at her, for a minute. Finally, he spoke.

"Can I see your phone?"

"Uh…why?" Beth tried to keep her voice steady.

"Just let me."

She silently handed over her phone. Josh touched the screen and scrolled around. He sighed. "I hoped I was hearing things."

Her heart sunk. "What do you mean?"

Josh shook his head and crossed his arms against his chest, leaning against the wall. "It's funny, not long ago you accused me of having a leak on my team." Beth could see the hurt in his eyes as he continued. "—Now _you're_ the leak."

She swallowed hard.

"You just called Mick St. John, told him about our raid—basically told him to destroy evidence!" Josh cried, starting to pace the room.

"Josh, it's not like that—"

He halted abruptly with a harsh laugh. "Oh, really? What's it like, then?"

"I need you to trust me…You just have to trust me…" Beth pleaded, grabbing his arm.

"Trust you?" he spat, ripping her hand from his arm. The look in his eyes stopped her cold. "I used to think I could."

Her heart leapt into her throat. "Josh…"

"How could you, Beth?" His dark eyes were full of sadness. "Kiss me and wish me good luck, then call him and tell him to go destroy everything I've worked so hard to find? Why? Why would you sabotage my investigation?"

"I wasn't—I didn't—"

"Just stop!" Josh yelled. "What has St. John gotten you involved in? Is he a part of this drug operation?" He didn't seem to hear Beth's vehement denial. "I should have known, when I found you with him at the club…"

"No! I told you, that was just work! I was looking at the drug angle for a story; Mick was looking for Lola." Beth took a deep breath and continued. "We had run into each other at the morgue earlier that night. When I told him about Club Valis, he thought it might be connected to the case he was working on. He met me there."

"Why was Mick looking for Lola?"

"I don't know, exactly, for a friend of his, I think. But trust me, he's not on her side."

"I'm sorry, but I can't believe you. If he never told you why he was looking for her and he's not affiliated with her, then why did you warn him about the raid and tell him to get there first if there was anything he didn't want us to find?"

Beth hesitated. "I'm sorry, Josh. I can't talk about this with you."

"You have to, Beth," Josh said firmly. He covered her hand with his. "Beth, you broke the law."

She turned from him, tears filling her eyes. "Josh, don't make me do this. Lives are at stake."

"Which is why we were trying to stop Lola, before you and Mick tried to cut us out of the equation!" He exhaled in frustration.

Beth turned back to him. "More lives were at stake if we didn't," she said in quiet seriousness.

He looked at her in disbelief.

"Josh, you don't understand; there's no way you could understand." She begged him with her eyes to let it go, but she knew he wouldn't—especially not since Mick was involved.

"Beth…you circumvented a police investigation and are involved in the potential destruction of evidence. As much as I hate to say it, I'll probably have to arrest you. Both of you. Having him behind bars won't cause me much grief. But _you_…"

His expression pained her. She shook her head. "Josh, you have to trust me. I did this to protect—"

"Protect who? …Mick? …Me?" He raised his brow skeptically.

"Yes, Mick. And others. And you, in a way," she added. "But I can't say any more!" she cried and wrenched away from him.

"Well, you're going to have to, Beth. I can't let this go. You've betrayed me—betrayed the justice system."

Beth felt her heart plummet into her stomach. "I'll go to jail if I have to, call it protecting a source or something, but please—leave Mick out of this."

Josh stared at her. "You can't be serious. You'd go to jail for him?"

"It's not all about him, Josh."

He shook his head. "Let's go."

"What, where? Where are we going?"

"We're going to go wait for St. John at his apartment. If he cares at all about you, he won't stay silent and let you go to jail."

Beth sunk back against the door and watched in horror as Josh shrugged into his coat and pocketed his cell phone and hers—along with a gun.

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Josh had just parked in front of Mick's building when his cell phone rang. Beth leaned against her door, half trying to listen in, though part of her despaired that it wouldn't matter anymore.

Josh hung up the phone and stared at the steering wheel. He answered her unspoken question. "That was Carl—seems they were about to go in when the warehouse just up and exploded." His eyes narrowed. "I wonder how that happened."

Beth said nothing. Josh sighed and got out of the car, walking around to open Beth's door. He held out a hand to assist her, but she ignored it and stepped out of the vehicle on her own. She refused to meet his eyes. Josh placed his hand on her back and guided her through the door to Mick's apartment building and into the elevator. He jabbed the button for the penthouse several times before the doors closed and the elevator ascended in awkward silence.

A couple minutes later the elevator dinged and they stepped out. But Beth stopped short. There was a man down the hall, leaning against Mick's door. She'd only met him once, but he had made her a little uncomfortable; Mick hadn't directly confirmed it, but she was pretty sure he was a vampire—meaning this was not the kind of situation in which she wanted to meet him again.

"Josef? What are you doing here?" She tried to keep her voice from trembling, but failed.

Josef had been lost in his thoughts and had barely registered their approach. But hearing her wild heartbeat and seeing her tear-streaked face, he snapped out of it.

"Buzzwire?" He pushed off the door and stood facing them, throwing a wary glance at Josh, who was eyeing him suspiciously. "I'm waiting for Mick to…get home. What are you doing here?"

"Um…I…"

"Beth, you're shaking—what's wrong?" Josh whispered. "Is this guy a part of this, too?"

Josef's brows drew together swiftly. "Am I a part of what?"

"You heard that?!"

Josef ignored Josh. He stepped down the hall towards Beth, eyes narrowing on her.

"Am I a part of _what_, Beth?"

"I-I called Mick to warn him—about a warehouse the police were going to raid. And J-Josh heard me…"

A guttural growl came from Josef.

Josh pulled out his gun. "Hey! Stay back."

Josef snorted. "You think that's going to stop me?"

"YES. He _does_," Beth said pointedly.

Josef stopped and relaxed—slightly. "So he doesn't…"

Beth shook her head. "No."

Josh was looking between the two of them in confusion. "What's going on here?"

"You tell me."

Josh shook his head. "No, _I'll_ ask the questions."

Josef glared at him. "I didn't ask you a question, I issued a command. I'll speak slowly this time so you can understand. You. Tell. Me."

Josh bristled. "I don't answer to you. I'm here in an official capacity. And I can't—and won't—discuss an ongoing investigation."

"Yet that's exactly what you're here to do," Josef scoffed.

"With the people involved, yes."

"I'm involved. —Start discussing. _Now_."

Josh frowned at him.

"Really," Josef stated. He sighed when Josh still looked at him skeptically. "Look, I assume the warehouse in question belongs to one Delores Maxford Whittaker, more colloquially known as 'Lola'?"

Josh tilted his head in acknowledgement.

"Well, I'm not a huge fan of discussing my private business with strangers; it's generally a need-to-know kind of thing—but I guess you trying to have my best friend arrested qualifies. I asked Mick to find Lola; she took a significant amount of money from me. And, as Mick and Beth discovered last night when they ran into her at Club Valis, she's been using it to finance a drug operation—apparently, the same one you were investigating."

Josh's mouth dropped open. "Beth, you met this woman?!"

"I-I…" she stuttered.

"Yes, that's what's important. Not my stolen million bucks being used to make a deadly drug that's killed several humans, etcetera, but the fact that your nosy little reporter girlfriend made eye contact with the manufacturer and didn't inform you," Josef broke in. Both Josh and Beth glared at him. He rolled his eyes. "Okay, why don't we go inside Mick's apartment where we can discuss this in a more…civilized…manner?"

Beth shot him a look of puzzlement. "If you can get inside Mick's apartment, why were you waiting in the hall?"

Josef shrugged. He wasn't exactly sure himself. Pulling a remote device from his pocket, he pressed a button and the door opened.

"If you're thinking of trying anything funny, don't," Josh warned, gesturing with the gun he still held in his hand.

Josef glanced at the gun and smirked. "I'll try to be appropriately terrified," he said dryly as he turned and led the way into the penthouse.

_**  
To be continued…**_


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

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.**  
Josh Lindsey, B.C.—Chapter 2**

Beth curled up in Mick's chair while Josh warily took a seat on the couch. He made sure to keep an eye on Josef, who headed straight for the bar.

"I'd offer you something to drink," Josef said as he poured a glass of scotch, "but you're here in an official capacity—right? So, no drinking on the job." He looked over at Josh. Then he took a flask from his pocket and added a shot's worth of a dark red liquid to his glass. "Pomegranate juice," he explained, straight-faced. Then he winked at Beth. "Blondie, can I interest you in a drink?"

"No, thanks," Beth replied, raising a brow at his brazenness. "I'm not a fan of…pomegranate."

"Not yet, anyway," Josef said half under his breath as he took a seat in a chair near Beth's. "You know, I do not believe we have been formally introduced," he said, staring at Josh. "Didn't your mother tell you it's not polite to wave a gun in a stranger's face?"

"But it'd be polite to wave a gun in the face of someone you know?"

"'Know your enemy,'" Josef quipped. He stuck out his hand. "Josef Kostan."

"_Assistant District Attorney_ Josh Lindsey." Josh emphasized his title, nodding at Josef and making a point of not shaking the other man's hand.

Josef raised his brows and smirked. "Right," he nodded knowingly. "So. Back to our little discussion—which is completely off the record, by the way—I've known Lola a very long time, and she can be…well, convincing." He flashed a small smile. "That was how she tricked me out of the money. When I came back to my senses, I sent Mick after Lola to find out what she was doing with the money she had taken from me. I had no idea what she was planning. If it had turned out to be something innocent, like a new wing at the children's hospital, I would have let her get her name in big gold letters on the wall. But if she was doing anything illegal with it, which Mick discovered she was, I didn't want it to come back and bite me."

"So Mick was going to the warehouse not to get rid of any drug evidence, but to get rid of anything that might lead us to investigate you," Josh surmised.

"I guess so, yeah," Josef bristled. "But he wasn't covering anything up, per se. I did nothing illegal, I was a victim! I didn't care about getting my money back—a million bucks is chump change for me—I just didn't want to get involved. I'm a very wealthy, high-profile businessman, and if it got out that I had provided some of the seed money for Lola's little drug operation, however innocently, it would have been very bad for me."

"So that somehow justified Mick blowing up the entire warehouse?"

"What?" Josef exclaimed.

Josh raised a brow. "Oh, so you didn't know about that? Yeah, it seems that just as the police were getting ready to make entry, the warehouse exploded. I guess Mick must have found a lot of stuff there that pointed to you. Interesting."

"Hey, wait a minute—I know lawyers love to jump to conclusions, but I seem to remember some kind of saying—what is it? Oh yeah—'innocent until proven guilty.' Do you have any proof that Mick blew up the warehouse?"

"Not yet. But the police are looking into it," Josh said confidently.

"Did it occur to you that perhaps it was Lola cleaning up her little mess?"

Josh went still.

"I'll take that as a big fat 'Uhhh…no,'" Josef glared at him.

Josh frowned in return. "But wait a minute," he said suddenly, "Beth said that lives were at stake, that she couldn't talk about the reasons Mick might need to hijack evidence because she was protecting him and others. That doesn't fit with the story you've told me."

"No, it doesn't," Josef muttered inaudibly. He rolled his eyes and glared coldly at the blonde suddenly shrinking in her chair. "Way to _not_ go, Blondie," he hissed. "I would have thought a reporter could come up with some kind of cover story." He turned to address Josh again. "Look, Mr. Lindsey, Mick will be home in about, say, oh, 15.35 seconds, so why don't we just sit silently and twiddle our thumbs until then?"

"That's awfully exact. How do you know—"

Josef threw up his hands. "Okay, _somebody_ is obviously not very good at the silent game."

"Must you deflect every—"

Just then the front door opened with a beep and Mick stepped slowly through the frame.

Josh looked from his watch to Josef to his watch again in disbelief. "How did you—"

Josef shrugged. "I'm psychic. I felt his vibrations."

Josh scrunched up his face, but before he could say anything else, Mick spoke.

"—What's going on here?"

"St. John," Josh stood to face him, "would you mind telling me where you just were?"

Mick looked from Josh, who looked angry; to Beth, who looked worried and didn't quite meet his eyes; to Josef, who looked furious; and back to Josh again. "Out. Errands."

"Judging by the state and smell of your apparel, I imagine one of those errands was setting fire to a warehouse at Fifth and Alameda," Josh posited.

Mick stared stonily at Josh, who met his eyes. Josef began speaking to Mick in levels too low for the humans to hear. "_Mick, he knows you were at the warehouse. He overheard Blondie's phone call telling you to get over there and get rid of anything you didn't want the cops to find. I admitted to him about Lola and the stolen money and that you were just trying to keep my name out of it. But Buzzwire here had the bright idea to tell him before they arrived here that you were just trying to save more lives than they would and she couldn't talk about it. So now our stories don't match up_." He nearly crushed the glass in his hand. "_I _knew_ you shouldn't have told a human_!"

Mick turned away so Josh wouldn't see his mouth moving and responded to Josef, "_I didn't tell her; she discovered me, remember? It happens sometimes. And overall, her knowing turned out to be a good thing_."

"_Yeah, except for maybe right now_," Josef spat.

"_Her intentions were good, she was trying to help us. You yourself told me what would happen if the cops discovered Lola. And you were right—you should've seen what was going on in that warehouse. I blew it up just in time. Now we only have one curious human to deal with, instead of twenty_."

"_Mick St. John, looking at the bright side of things? Did I step out of the elevator and into the twilight zone_?"

Mick emitted a low growl that only Josef would pick up and paced a few steps. Then he stopped behind a chair, sighed, and gripped its back hard. "Josef, I think we have to tell him," he said aloud.

"_Oh, sure_," Josef said, looking down his front and brushing off the lapels of his suit, "_but then we'd have to kill him, and I've already met my tar pit quota for the week_."

After hearing Mick suggest that they come clean, Josh had turned to look at Josef. He saw him scowling and his mouth moving, but heard nothing. "Did you just say something?"

Josef looked up. "Did you hear me say something?" he challenged.

Josh furrowed his brow. "No, but your mouth was moving, and I thought you'd have something to say to what Mick just said."

"If I did, I probably would have said something along the lines of, 'if we told him, then we'd have to kill him.'"

"Excuse me?!"

"You heard me." Josef replied smoothly. "—_This_ time, anyway."

"How could you possibly justify killing an assistant district attorney?" Josh demanded.

"Lots of ways," Josef said easily, "Besides the obvious being a lawyer thing, if you knew the secret we're trying to protect, you'd be a danger to the community."

"My job is to serve and protect the community. How can I be a danger to them if I'm fully informed?"

"I thought you weren't a cop," Josef quipped, then added quite seriously to a very confused Josh, "And if I were you, I would have already gathered from all the 'other lives at stake' and the secrecy thing that we aren't talking about the same community."

"Josef," Mick said suddenly, "He has a point—about being fully informed. As an ADA, he is in a position to help our community. Just as Beth spins stories when necessary, he could—"

Josh held up a hand. "Whoa—you're saying you get Beth, who is all about getting the story, to omit or alter information from her reports?"

"That's how important it is, Josh," Beth finally spoke up. "If 'our' community became aware of theirs, the world would never, ever be the same again. My world was radically changed, but plenty of people would not handle the news as well as me."

"How melodramatic of you, Blondie," Josef bowed to her. She pursed her lips at him.

"Why did you tell Beth this secret?"

"She sort of…stumbled…upon it," Mick said, "I had no choice but to tell her. And I thought I could trust her."

"And up until tonight, he was right," Josef growled.

Beth glared at him, but addressed her boyfriend. "Josh, think of it as classified information. The government keeps lots of information about potential terrorist threats from the public because there's no sense in starting mass panic over events that may never actually occur."

"And would the revelation of their 'secret community' to the world cause mass panic?"

"Ohhhhhh, yeah." Mick said. "Big time. Worse than terrorist threats."

"Worse?!"

"I guess we kind of have to tell him now, Mick, after all this buildup," Josef began casually, valiantly holding back a grin, "If only to see the look on his face when he finds out that vampires exist."

Silence.

"Does anybody have a pin to drop?" Josef whispered. "Not that I'd have a problem hearing it under normal circumstances, but—"

_**  
To be continued…**_


End file.
